Addressing ambiguity of Right to Self-Determination

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 00:26 GMT]
The international system is erratic in justifying right to self-determination (RSD) of nations set against right to security of states. All areas of discretion were interpreted against, in the case of Eezham Tamils. As the militant-created de facto state that has been making a case for RSD all this time doesn’t exist in its territory today, democratic political move should create a new de facto situation. RSD can be invoked when peoples of more than one state are involved, but Mr Karunanidhi nullified the opportunity. The option now is not asking for RSD, but exercising it and mandating democratic de facto situation or situations. This is why spelling out the goal of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam is paramount for transnational governance. Elected country councils enhance meeting the task by structurally involving ‘peoples of many states.’
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Tamil internment, a manifestation of Sinhala state racism - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 16:04 GMT]
"Despite the manifest outrage of international human rights groups like HRW and Amnesty International, relief agencies and several Western states, Sri Lanka defiantly continues to brutalize the [Tamil] detainees [locking them up in barbed wire militarized camps]. Whilst various international actors attempt to goad, cajole and compel Sri Lanka to let the civilians go, few have examined the reasons for their incarceration. As far as the Tamils are concerned, it is obvious: this is the latest manifestation of the Sinhala state racism," the British paper Tamil Guardian said in the latest weekend edition.
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Armed robber kills one, injures one in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 15:24 GMT]
An armed man clad in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) uniform opened fire at a group of Tamil villagers who confronted the man when he attempted to rob a house in the Ellappar Maruthankulam in Vavuniyaa district Friday night around 9:00 p.m. One villager was killed and another one was seriously injured in the incident. The armed man fled from the scene with the loot of one hundred thousand rupees in cash and twenty six sovereigns of jewellery, sources said.
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Sri Lanka refuses visas to two Canadian MPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 04:48 GMT]
Patrick Brown, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Barrie, and Paul Calandra Conservative MP for Oakridges Markham have been denied visas by the Sri Lankan Consulate in Toronto to visit the internment camps in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka, where more than 300,000 Tamil refugees are being held against their wishes in military supervised camps, sources in Canada said. Mr Brown in an interview with a Canadian Tamil TV said that although the Consulate has "clearly said no" to his visit he is prepared to try again. The MP added that he is "incredibly suspicious" of the Government and that he believes "what every one is saying, that there are breaches of human rights, breaches of international obligations, and deplorable conditions...and I think it is true."
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US should help launch international investigations into Sri Lanka killings - HRW

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 23:10 GMT]
Pointing out that "Sri Lanka's nervousness about its international standing has not yet triggered any significant improvement on human rights matters, and there is no indication that the government is genuinely rethinking its policies," Dr Anna Neistat, Human Rights Watch (HRW), in an article written for a Washington-based think tank, said that Washington while "pushing publicly and privately for the release of the displaced," should insist on accountability for the crimes by using its "influence at the UN to help launch an international independent investigation into violations of humanitarian law."
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Colombo set to lose GSP plus

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 18:20 GMT]
The European Union has found Sri Lanka in breach of International Human Rights laws, implying that Colombo does not fulfil the basic human rights conditions of GSP plus, according to an exclusive update by Reuters Friday night. It is likely that Sri Lanka would lose concessions worth over $100 million for its top exports to Europe, the report said citing EU sources. The findings of the investigations by the EU are expected to be published Monday.
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SLA obstructs journalists meeting IDPs brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 09:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials in Jaffna did not allow media in Jaffna to meet and interview the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa SLA internment camps Friday. The officials who had warned the IDPs of severe consequences should they meet or say anything to media persons said that they have been directed by the Ministry of Defence not to allow the media to meet the IGPs. Meanwhile the fate of two female undergrads who were among 28 women undergrads brought from Vavuniyaa internment camps to Jaffna, is not known, according to University officials in Jaffna. The two undergrads were taken for interrogation by the SLA from Kaithadi detention camp. The others have been handed over to Jaffna University administration.
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Tamil refugees in Indonesian port begin hunger strike

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 23:37 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers caught by Indonesian authorities while trying to reach Christmas Island, Australia, and brought to the port city of Merak in western Java, have gone on a hunger strike, reports from Australian media said. “The group's spokesman, Alex, said all 222 men and women on board the cargo boat would refuse food until a Western country, such as Australia, promised to resettle them,” WAtoday an Australian online newspaper reported, and the site quoted the spokesperson as saying, "[w]e want a resolution from any foreign country that says they are willing to take us." The 31 Tamil children on board would not join the hunger strike, reports added.
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Postal bags sent in passenger buses from Jaffna to Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 17:54 GMT]
After a long time postal bags from Jaffna were sent in Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) passenger buses to Vavuniyaa through A9 road after being inspected by Sri Lanka Army (SLN) and police in the check post located in Jaffna Sinhalese Maha Viththiyaalyam precinct, sources in Jaffna said. The postal bags transported with SLA and police guards will be handed over to postal authorities in Vavuniyaa who will send them to other places in the country, the sources added
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Government merely relocating IDPs instead of resettling them

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 07:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka government is actively engaged in merely relocating Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from one internment camp to other camps instead of resettling them in their own places, IDP Welfare Organizations in Jaffna raised concern. The government, in an attempt to ward off pressure from International Community to speedily resettle the IDPs in their original villages, is putting up an appearance of resettling IDPs and it is suspected it is intentionally dragging its feet in resettling the residents of Vanni in their villages, they further said.
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UNICEF urged to explore direct assistance to IDP education

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 22:01 GMT]
UNICEF has recently announced an emergency programme to assist Colombo’s Ministry of Education implementing Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) to an estimated number of 85,000 IDP children. According to a UNICEF advertisement, seeking experts to work with Colombo’s ministry, the programme will begin from January 2010 and 2000 teachers are to be trained for this purpose. Over the years the so-called national education in the island has been thoroughly Sinhalicised with scheming perfection, so that education of Tamils is now completely ‘directed’ by Sinhalese from concept and management to curriculum and textbooks. The ‘core curriculum’ in the mind of Colombo is structural and cultural genocide, commented academic circles in the island, adding that the UN agency should explore ways of handing over the education of Tamils to Tamils.
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Miliband cosmetically presents catalogue of failures

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 01:18 GMT]
British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband on Tuesday presented a written statement to the House of Commons on the 'developments' in the island of Sri Lanka since his last visit in April in response to his concerns on minimising humanitarian impact, strengthening of the rule of law to address human rights and on setting out a political process to address the grievances of 'minorities'. Tamil circles find nothing worthy has been achieved in the last six months but the cosmetic presentation of the catalogue of failures by Mr. Miliband raises concern in them whether the British government is up for appeasement with the aggressive elements in the island.
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'Time for South India to take care of its own geopolitics'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 00:26 GMT]
The historic duty of Tamil Nadu today is to cast with far sight its diplomatic weight internationally, convincing New Delhi and the international community to come out with fundamental solutions recognizing the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo. "Saying foreign affairs is an exclusive domain of the Centre is only an excuse in contemporary world, especially when a federal government fails in it seriously affecting the strategic interests of a state. A Tamil Nadu delegation visiting Sri Lanka is perhaps for the first time an external affairs exercise of a state in India, but it has cut a negative image with the people to whom it was meant for, raising questions on the bona fides of the whole exercise," the commentator further says.
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SLA forcibly takes 99 IDPs from Pulmoaddai to Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 15:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forcibly took away ninety-nine internally displaced men between the age of 40 and 50 detained in camps located in Pulmoaddai to Vavuniyaa internment camp in eight vehicles without prior notice. SLA soldiers arrived at Pulmoaddai camp Friday night around 8:00 p.m and through public address system called out the names of ninety-nine IDPs. They were bundled into the vehicles when they came out of the camp in response to the call. They are all heads of families. They are now held in Ne’luku’lam camp in Vavuniyaa, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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No signs of resettlement of IDPs in KKS

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 07:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government has announced its intention of opening Kaangkeasanthu’rai (KKS) Road for public in view of the reopening of KKS cement factory located in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ). Mere opening of KKS road is meaningless while more than 100,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) evacuated from their residences 20 years ago are still languishing in camps and in relatives’ houses without being resettled, IDP Welfare Organizations in Jaffna said.
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3 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 17:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and police took into custody Monday morning three Tamil youths in a joint search conducted in Eddiyawathe in Mattakuliya, a suburb of Colombo city. One of the youths was arrested as he was travelling in No. 155 public transport bus which was bound to Galkisse. The other two youths were taken into custody in the search conducted in Eddiyawathe junction.
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SLA denies permission to Thirumavalavan to meet public in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 07:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna turned down the request of Thol. Thirumavalavan, Tamil Nadu Parliamentarian and leader of Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Kadchi (VCK) Party, to meet the public in Jaffna when the delegation of Tamil Nadu MPs was taken to Jaffna Public Library for a meeting Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Jaffna University Students expressed their strong protest against India for having let down the Eezham Tamils and for deceiving them continually, when the MPs met students in Jaffna University Sunday, the sources added.
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Tamils get international recognition in sciences

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 2009, 23:23 GMT]
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, born in Chithamparam, Tamil Nadu is named for Nobel Prize 2009 in Chemistry, Wednesday, for contributing to the knowledge of structure and functions of ribosome, leading to development of direct and more effective antibiotics in medicine. In June, Jaffna-born Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, an old student of Mahajana College, Thellippazhai, was conferred knighthood for his contributions in the field of medicine in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. While such achievements inspire younger generation of diaspora Tamils in making global contributions to humanity, it is also time for the diaspora to forge its own global organization to help itself as well as to remind a dodging IC of its responsibilities to the plight of Tamils. Sir Arulkumaran’s Alma Mater, celebrating its centenary next year, is in the military occupied HSZ for years now, being deprived of its population.
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Sinhalese Buddhist priest appointed as archaeological curator for Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 12:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse has appointed Rev. Warapitiya Rahula Thero as the curator for archaeological artifacts in Jaffna peninsula in an attempt to fabricate evidence to show the Sinhalese masses and the outer world that traces of Buddhism in Jaffna peninsula are exclusively Sinhalese, sources in Jaffna said. Rev. Rahula Thero will be working from an office that is to be soon built in the ‘Old Park’ located next to Jaffna Secretariat. Jaffna Museum which had lain neglected for more than 30 years and looted during successive Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives on the peninsula is to be relocated to the new archaeological department in Old Park where Rev. Rahula Thero will go into action following in the footsteps of the successive Sinhalese regimes which have tried to rewrite the history of Sri Lanka in favour of Sinhalese Buddhists, the sources added.
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Tension grips Tamil business community in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 11:54 GMT]
Tension has gripped the Tamil business community in Colombo and its suburbs after Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers called on them to register their assets with the local authorities. The soldiers had called on the community with a printed form which has to be filled with every miniature detail from the type of enterprise, to assets such as vehicles, etc, members of the family, relatives and employees. The Tamil business community is perturbed over this new regulation since they have already registered themselves with the relevant police divisions.
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